Search ongoing for pets that may be missing in Sydney suburb following carer's stroke

The whereabouts for a cat and dog said to be missing in an inner-west suburb of Sydney is yet to bear fruit despite the apparent best efforts of thousands of volunteers and local police.

A Facebook group called Summer Hill Urgent Pet Search Volunteers was set up on New Year's Eve after a story emerged about an elderly man who was caring for the animals in the owners' absence had a stroke and has been left unable to communicate any details about where they might be.

Despite having little to go on, that group now has close to 3000 members, many of whom are said to have been door-knocking in the area in an effort to find the cat and dog, whose breeds are unknown.

One of the locals spearheading the search told ninemsn that dozens of residents had turned out to go door-to-door.

Other administrators told ninemsn that the ailing old man, identified only as "Tim", had the stroke in Petersham on Boxing Day.

According to the Facebook page, the owners of the pets have travelled to the South Coast, a regular destination for them, but with the old fellow incapacitated, not even their address is known, an administrator who has been in contact with the man's son, Sean, told ninemsn.

The scant details surrounding the pets' disappearance have prompted some sceptics to question the legitimacy of the story, but the administrators of the Facebook group have insisted this is no hoax.

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A spokesman from Ashfield LAC told ninemsn that police are investigating the matter, but so far to no avail.

"The authorities are very happy and grateful with the work being done here, and advise those concerned that ALL known details are being worked with," reads an update posted this morning on the Facebook page.

"The authorities also they note that even if they got signals from phone towers and triangulated phones etc … at the end of the day all they would be doing is exactly the same thing we are doing now, walking the street and knocking on doors."